Long-form improv artists Rare Bird Show take one audience-suggested word and spin it into a half-hour show. They did their best with "ostrich," delving into funny-voiced scenes with robot vacuums, Britney Spears as a step-mom, and the great birds as raptor-like killers.

They gave themselves a tough act to follow in openers Dangerous Fools. Thomas Fowler and Mary Carpenter use silence and pregnant pauses to create impromptu sexual tension and comic effect better than any improv group I've seen. They open for Rare Bird again Sept. 8, and headline the Adrienne's second stage Sept. 10.

-Brian Howard